Advanced Advertisement Techniques

Writing a Game Ad

Writing a game ad can be a complex process as this will be the first introduction to your game for all new players, and remember, presentation counts.

If you are unsure about the broad specifics of your game (Game System, Setting, or if there will be sufficient player interest) consider first utilizing the Planning Board before creating a game ad on the Games and Ads Board. If you are unsure about how to get started, see the Starting a New Game At MW page.

For most new GM's, the advertisement section is the best opportunity you have to attract a quality group of gamers that share similar ideas of play style, story telling and setting affinity.

Writing the correct game ad can help eliminate players that you find undesirable, and attract players that you prefer to have, and understanding exactly how to do that is an art in itself unique to your play style.

Provided below is a template with necessary information and additional optional information. You will find you need to add a lot of info, be sure to use spoiler tags for each lengthy section to help keep the ad "small looking". If a player encounters a giant wall of text, they aren't likely to stick it out to the end of the ad, or possibly even start it, but if you break it up with spoilers it will appear much more organized and manageable, even with the same amount of information.

Game Advertising Template

Title: Name your ad something memorable that conveys a great idea about the type of campaign or adventure you wish to run.

Game System Used: Tell which system you are using (DnD 3.5, GURPS, Palladium, etc.)

Posting Requirement: How many times a day, week or month are your players expected to post? If your game is already running, mention that, and take the time to realize adding another player may change the pace to become faster or slower depending on how the PC interacts. This requirement should be the MINIMUM requirement to post without some sort of prior notification. This range will vary drastically from game to game and is dependent upon a multitude of factors. As a general rule, requesting players post more than once a day can quickly become problematic. In some cases you may wish to also add a maximum posting rate such as "no more than three posts from a player before the DM and/or all respond at least once" to make sure that everyone has a chance to respond appropriately.

Setting: Forgotten Realms, Mage the Awakening, Home Brew, Existing setting with a variation, etc. Optional is a brief description (keep it short for now, 3-5 sentences) and/or use of a picture to help portray the type of game you intend to run. You may with to add a mood music link to help set the tone of the game for prospective players.

Estimated Group size: How many players you intend to have, if you have other sub-GM's it is good to mention that here.

Requesting "x" players: How many more players do you need? Keep in mind that the larger a group becomes, the greater the chances someone will hold up posting by being absent. Play by Post games with over 10 participants in them exist, but they are the exception and not the rule.

Requested Character Type (optional): If you need a healer, a cop, a battlestar captain, or some other specific character type for game balance or story continuity you should say so. Alternately and optionally, some players prefer to have premade NPC's to play that are already an existing part of the story. If you have some fitting NPC's in your game that could easily join the party (especially if you already have stats for them), showing these as options to players will help them decide which route is best, to take a premade character or forge their own from scratch (though the latter is by far the more popular option).

Character Creation Rules: This will vary drastically from system to system, but explain the parameters that the players are expected to operate within while generating their characters. If certain books or rules are not allowed, say so. If you don't want your characters playing certain things, tell them up front, no ninjas, no magic, no alien technology, etc. Be explicitly specific, otherwise you may get many questions asking you to clarify. If your characters need certain specifics such as what level to start at or how much treasure or character points they have, explain that here.

House Rules: If you have some house rules for your game, list them here. If you have a lot of house rules, or your house rules are extensive, a link to a "house rules" thread in your game forum is sufficient so long as the thread is publicly visible.

Special Note: Role-playing VS Roll-playing. Some Games run entirely diceless, while others may require a character to roll their sneezing skill to determine if the sneeze was successful and if so, have subcharts to determine if mucous was involved and if so, how much and what color. Most GM's and players fall somewhere in between. If you are bit more on the side of strict dice rolling or more prefer a story telling focus and limited dice rolls, let your players know that ahead of time to be sure they share similar sentiments. Providing an example on the threshold on either end of the spectrum can help you describe whether or not to roll dice in a given circumstance.

Current PC's and NPC party members: The idea here is to get the new player to build something that will mesh well with the party (assuming there is an existing party or party patron). A holy paladin and an assassin for the dark lord are not natural fits as adventuring buddies. Telling new players a bit about the party they will be joining or patron they will be serving (if there is one yet) will help them understand what is needed and what will be a good party fit.

Example:

[spoiler=Current PC's]

[spoiler=Jhya]

"All things are already at one, looking out from their own eye away from the center so that they might understand what it is to see with those eyes. It is then our duty to realize that we look out to understand what it is we see, not for the purpose of rationalizing what is before us but deciphering the importance of what is before us for what we look out from." -Jhya Mayven, Gnostic Order

Jhya is a human of about five foot six, one hundred and 150 lbs of pretty clear cut muscles. He has fair tan skin and long back hair commonly wrapped up in a bun or pulled back in a braid. His eyes are a bit of a point of interest, one is an olive green perhaps closer to a golden hazel, the other lacks any pigment or pupil and is simply stark white. He wears loose fitting grey or blue Tai Chi robes and occasionally a blue, light cotton cloak. Though he does not commonly use it for combat, Jhya commonly carries a walking stick. His other apparel; are either tucked away in his bead roll slung over his back or in the leather shoulder bag that hangs at his side. Jhya is 21 now.

Jhya has a slow and natural way about him as though nothing seems foreign or unusual no matter how alien to him. He is clam and soft spoken even wandering as though he has no particular place to go. Jhya will commonly stop to appreciate a flower, sunset or cool breeze and respects the finer thing that he believes so many people foolishly pass by. He smells of a warm bed of moss on a spring day though during the winter he seems to carry the cold airs sting of fallen leaves and camp fires with him even indoors. For those who are not outright offended by Jhya’s principals and attitude, he has a calming effect as though they feel safe or are around an old and long missed friend. For those that might be bothered by his general principals and attitude, he is extremely frustrating to the point of pulling hairs.

META KNOWLEDGE: Jhya is a Gnostic Monk.[/spoiler] [/spoiler]

Home Brew Outline: This step is not necessary for premade game worlds, but home brew worlds should explain things like the starting region, local factions, recent timeline, what magic and technology is available, and overall contribute any information you have to help paint the setting. If you have already started a wiki, providing links to relevant pages here is essential. Make your world come to life for the new player here.

Plot/Campaign Outline: Give your players a heads up as to what to expect so they can make the right character, especially if you are adding a player to an already running game. Saying England 1930, doesn't really tell me if I should make a Paranormal Investigator for some Lovecraftian Horror or perhaps a high seas captain or an IRA spy. Guide the players here so they understand what's going on. If you have an overarching metaplot type, suggesting what that is will also be valuable information to your players.

Background requirements (optional): You may request certain background information from your PC's. An example would be "1000-3000 words and a character portrait". What you require from your characters should be something you are willing to discuss with them in detail, and something that players will reasonably do. If you request so much that it becomes a chore from your players and ceases to be fun, they will likely pass on your game.

Additional PC Requirements: Must have access to "X" books, Must have character sheet set to editable for the DM, anything else not covered above, etc.

How to apply for this game: Do you want a PM? An email? A post in your thread? A link texted to your cell phone of their character sheet? A direct application to the game at the forum? Something else? Tell people the appropriate method to contact you and with what material they should have on hand and ready to discuss. Expect lots of questions, so answer as many as you can in the above categories before they get asked. This will save you a lot of time as you have prepared them to prepare for your review.

LINKS (optional): post relevant links such as free downloadable content from the publisher, a link to your game forum, a link to a movie that inspired you to make the campaign, etc. Try to keep users on the site on MW as much as possible though, as they quickly become tired of opening and closing lots of windows.

End Template

Selecting Your Players

Selecting players for your game is a complex process and will vary drastically with every game as every game will have unique characters and very likely a different set of players, making this a largely subjective grey area, though there are some specific notes to keep in mind...

Know what you need. If you need a fighter, cleric, mage, thief party, then make sure that's what you pick. If you need a cop, or everyone to be a ninja, then know that ahead of time, which should be already figured as you've already written your game ad and considered this thoroughly.

Do not accept players that appear to not be familiar with the information you clearly posted in your game ad. If they can't pay attention to that, they likely won't pay close attention to your game. Additionally, do not accept players that cannot follow simple instructions.

Do not accept players that seem disruptive or "irk" you.

Do not accept character concepts you believe to be game breaking or are unwilling to deal with. Be very honest about this. You may find even the things you thought you could handle may quickly become a handful in the hands of a crafty min/max player.

Accepting players unfamiliar with your game world or system is not necessarily a bad thing, but may cause additional challenges. Additionally it will also allow you the opportunity to help mold their experience with the system.

As general advice, if you have a bad feeling about a player or character, go with your gut. Better to part ways now than invest tons of time and effort in the player and enable them to single handedly destroy your game. Conversely, if you have a good feeling about a player, give them a shot. Largely this is a trial and error endeavor and it may take a while to get a solid group together.

Depending on the success of your ad you may afford to be more or less picky, though if you've done a good job with your ad and your game seems appealing you will likely have more applicants than you can deal with. This can be a bit overwhelming the first few days as you receive dozens of letters from potential candidates, but this is a better spot to be in than not having enough qualified applicants. If you only have a fewer applicants you approve at first than you would like, work with them for now and begin preparing the game, you can always come back and put up another ad.